Friday, March 15, 2019

Loneliness

A living-abroad family member recently shared how many of their family are experiencing loneliness. We forget, those of us not having lived abroad, how magnified any emotion can be in a stressful lifestyle, whether living overseas or back in their passport country for a visit.

I remember a friend sharing on furlough how deeply her friendships had changed; she and her family had experiences that had grown them, changed them at their core, yet back in the states, even their best friends had only advanced their visions of the American Dream. There was a huge chasm.

Let’s remember to pray for our missionaries here on furlough and abroad. Let’s pray for God to be the remedy to their loneliness, for them to be able to be honest and transparent about all of their emotions, with people at their side and those monitoring them from their passport countries. Let’s ask God to provide relationships to help fill the gaps—not just people to reach out to evangelize, but deep spiritual friendships that can be a healing salve in their heart languages to overcome the loneliness, for the parents and kids alike. Lord, have your way!